All In

I was just sitting here reading the side effects of Chantix, the drug they give people trying to break a nicotine addiction. Some of them are things like irritability, sudden mood swings, murderous rampages ... I'm surprised they didn't run a study on a placebo group because I'm pretty sure those don't have anything to do with the drug. I'm pretty sure those of the symptoms of people trying to break a nicotine habit.

Anyway, it was quite a long day. We got started fairly early with routines tests; blood work and the like. I met with all of the secondary doctors and discussed their part in tomorrow's adventure. Oh, wait. I forgot to tell you. Surgery is going to happen ... sometime tomorrow around 2:00 P.M. or so here. That will be about the time you are waking up in the morning. So, throw up a quick prayer for me and Dr. Ritter-Lang.

Dr.Heinz, Dr. Ritter-Lang's assistant was a little more pessimistic about the chances for success. However, she followed that up with "He's the best and he's been doing it for 20 years. If he believes he can fix it, then I believe him" Finally, after a little down time, I was able to meet with Dr. Ritter-Lang. He's very, very confident that he can make things work for me. Truly though, his final argument, and my final argument, and Dr. Theiss's (from UAB) final argument, all are about the same. I have three options. Option one is to do nothing. I can't do that because pretty soon my vertebrae are going to start fusing themselves. I certainly don't want that. Option two is to do a total fusion from the mid-chest down. I'm 40 years old. That doesn't sound like a good idea either. This is my best option at this point. I have nothing to lose. Truly though, I think he really can do what he says he can do. I've seen some pretty amazing things around here this week.

So, I may make another post tomorrow. I may not. I'll get to the hospital around 8:00AM and I really don't know the schedule from there. I will let you know when it's surgery time though. After that, I will expect it will be a few days before you hear from me again. I am going to be feeling a little bit like a catfish filet for the next few days, so I doubt I will feel much like typing. But, I will talk to you soon. Thanks for all the love and prayers fine people! I need it!

Two things I forgot about

1) my dad snores
2) my dad snores loud

So, I guess I won't sleep anytime soon after all. I'll have to sit here and read until the agony of staying awake finally loses the battle with my eyelids.

What does it sound like? I'm glad you asked. It sounds a lot like he is trying to suck his adenoids through his tonsils and into either his esophagus or nose, I can't quite tell. Musically, I would describe it as the rhythmic stylings of Chewbaca, or maybe Chewbaca's Greatest Hits. Tomorrow I will get a sound recording app downloaded to my iPad so I can give you a sampling of this most wonderful musical experience.


While I'm writing, I'll periodically give you a little bit of the background as to why I'm here, putting it all together over time. In 1997, I had a truck accident that left me with a crushed vertebrae, L-1 specifically, which you can locate on your own body by putting your index finger on your sternum and pointing an imaginary line to your back; right in the middle in other words. The only way to repair the damage was to fuse the damaged bone to the somewhat healthy bone above and below. So, that left me with the fusion that I now have from T-12 through L-2. For several years, I had very few problems with this result. I more or less did whatever I wanted to do.

Hey, I'll stop there with the history. I'll fill you in on that a little at a time. I imagine that could get pretty boring pretty quick.

I'm looking forward to meeting the surgeon who will do the surgery tomorrow, Dr. Karsten Ritter-Lang. That is the last mental hurdle for me. I need to look him in the eye and make sure I don't see anything that alarms me. If he "feels" trustworthy, then it's a go

Day Zero ... The beginning of the beginning

So, here I am in a little place called Stenum, Germany, a small suburb of Bremen. I arrived after an 18 hour overnight flight. I was met at the airport by the cab they sent for us (my dad is with me for the first week or two). Next stop was a little hotel right next to the hospital. We went over to the hospital and took a tour guided by Melanie. We had a pretty good question and answer session which I let my dad lead, since most of it was a rehash for me. I felt a good bit more comfortable after that though. The most interesting thing so far was a visit I had with a couple of patients at the suggestion of Melanie. I entered the hospital room expecting to see two people who felt pretty dang bad. Wrong. I was shocked! They got out of bed and stood straight up. They didn't lean to one side. THEY HAD SURGERY A WEEK AGO. Now granted, their surgeries were not as significant as mine is to be. Each of them had two artificial discs implanted at L4-L5 and L5-S1. I will have a much more invasive operation to include refusion of T12-L2, and adding L3 to that, AND THEN installing three artificial discs at L3-L4, L4-L5, and L5-S1. Even still, I was impressed with the condition these guys were in a week after a fairly invasive procedure. I hope that I can reach that point after two weeks.

At that point they will ship me off to a special rehab center where I will recuperate for another two weeks. I'm hoping to make it home by April 30th, just in time for my son's birthday party. We'll see.

That's the update for tonight. I'll make my final decision sometime around noon Bremen time, after spending the morning with the doctors here. Right now, I'd say I'm about 95% sure I'm going to do it. We are six hours ahead of you here, so by the time you wake up in the morning, I should know what I'm going to do. I think I already know, but I also think it's important to go through the excercise of due diligence. Wish me luck and pray for me.

Night folks.